Following a two-week hiatus — which we’re not going to talk about right now — it looks like we’re back. Plenty happened over those two weeks, but I won’t be circling back to all of it.

2025 was unquestionably a success for the LSU Tigers. The school had a 42-13 record and ranked 4th in the USA Today Coaches Poll at the conclusion of the regular season. The Tigers stepped up when the games mattered most, going 10-2 in the postseason. That included an impressive 5-0 run in Omaha during the College World Series, ultimately winning the best-of-three championship series over Coastal Carolina behind masterful pitching performances from LHP Kade Anderson (12-1, 3.33 ERA, 180 SO, 119.0 IP) and RHP Anthony Eyanson (12-2, 3.00 ERA, 152 SO, 108.0 IP).

The victory gave LSU its second national championship in the last three years and eighth overall in program history.

Nine of the Tigers’ players would be selected in last summer’s MLB Draft: Anderson (third overall to SEA); RHP Chase Shores (3rd Rd., LAA); RHP Eyanson (3rd, BOS); OF Ethan Frey (3rd, HOU); SS Daniel Dickinson (6th, MIL); 1B Jared Jones (9th, PIT); RHP Jacob Mayers (9th, BOS); RHP Kade Woods (10th, ATL); LHP Connor Ware (15th, NYM).

Expectations were once again high heading into 2026. The Tigers had a top recruiting class and several notable transfer additions joining the roster. USA Today’s Coaches Poll ranked them 1st in their initial rankings in early February.

By mid-March, the Tigers had dropped out of the Top 25.

By early April, they were no longer even receiving votes.

Little has gone right in Baton Rouge this season, especially when it comes to conference play. The Tigers are 23-18 overall, but just 6-12 against the rest of the SEC. The outlook for the remainder of the season got worse on Tuesday, with head coach Jay Johnson announcing that two of the team’s key players — OF Jake Brown and RHP Cooper Moore — would miss the remainder of the season due to injuries.

Moore, a transfer addition from the Kansas Jayhawks, last appeared on the mound for the Tigers in March against Oklahoma, leaving the outing after four innings with triceps tightness, according to And the Valley Shook’s Zachary Junda, but a second review discovered a stress fracture in his elbow. Moore will require surgery and likely won’t be able to throw for at least four to five months.

Moore posted a 3.38 ERA in 32.0 IP (six starts) with 39 SO and 7 BB before the injury.

As Junda notes, the timing of the initial injury could have draft implications for Moore. He may be able to medical redshirt this season, retaining his status as a junior for 2027 (and eligibility for the ‘27 Draft).

Brown, meanwhile, broke his hamate bone during Sunday’s game against Texas A&M. Surgery will require Brown to miss several weeks, likely taking him out of the lineup for the rest of the season unless the Tigers see a dramatic turnaround that results in a deep postseason run.

Brown was a 16th-round pick in the 2023 Draft by the Rangers, but he followed through on his commitment to join the Tigers and had a superb collegiate career. The corner outfielder and first baseman played in 161 games over three seasons for LSU, hitting .304/.398/.553 in 514 PA with 20 2B, 28 HR, 110 RBI, 23 SB, 56 BB, and 87 SO. The 21-year-old is ranked No. 54 on MLB Pipeline’s draft prospect rankings.

OF Derek Curiel (No. 6) is the only other Tigers player listed in the Top 100.

Longtime Angels outfielder Garret Anderson unexpectedly passed away last Friday following a heart attack. Anderson was 53.

The Los Angeles native was selected by the Angels in the 4th round of the 1990 Draft out of high school. He’d debut during the 1994 season and played for the franchise through the 2008 season, briefly spending some time with the Braves and Dodgers before calling it a career. Overall, Anderson was a .293/.324/.461 (102 OPS+) hitter during his 17-year career in the big leagues. The three-time All-Star (who won ASG MVP honors and the Home Run Derby in 2003) won a pair of Silver Slugger Awards.

Anderson remains the Angels’ all-time leader in games played (2,013), hits (2,368), RBI (1,292), total bases (3,743), doubles (489), and extra-base hits (796). His 272 home runs rank third (behind Mike Trout and Tim Salmon).

The Miami Marlins have always thought highly of left-hander Braxton Garrett. The southpaw was taken with the seventh-overall pick in the 2016 Draft by the club, who signed him to a bonus big enough to convince him to forego a commitment to Vanderbilt University. Garrett looked like one of the Marlins’ top starters through the 2022 and 2023 seasons, before Tommy John surgery cost him much of 2024 and all of 2025.

Garrett came to spring training healthy this year, but failed to win a spot in Miami’s starting rotation to begin the season. He’s responded by dominating the opposition at Triple-A to start the year: posting a 0.77 ERA in 23.1 IP (four starts) with 23 SO and 8 BB.

Garrett’s dominance continued on Tuesday. The 28-year-old pitched eight no-hit innings against the Gwinnett Stripers, striking out six. Still, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp lost the game 2-0. From MLB.com’s Ben Weinrib:

Braves right-hander Spencer Strider started the game for the Stripers (on a rehab assignment before he rejoins the club in Atlanta), striking out eight with one walk over 4.1 IP. He allowed a fourth-inning single to Joe Mack, the only hit for either side in the game.

Shin-Soo Choo is already considered one of the legends of Korean baseball, but the former outfielder is still working to further grow and expand the game. Per a report from the Korean outlet Chosun, Choo’s latest effort involved donating two years’ salary back to the SSG Landers to help improve the team’s “recovery, treatment environment, and overall development infrastructure”.

Choo, who currently serves as the Landers’ farm director, has been “introducing standards and routines he acquired on the global stage” throughout the organization’s development practices.

Additionally, several improvements are being made to SSG’s minor league field to upgrade the conditions in which the teams train.

Choo helped Korea win a bronze medal in 2000 at the U-18 Baseball World Cup and was named the MVP of the tournament for his work on the mound. The Seattle Mariners signed Choo as an international amateur free agent that summer, giving him a $1.35M signing bonus, and converted him to the outfield.

Choo made his MLB debut in 2005 with Seattle but didn’t see regular playing time in the big leagues until he was traded to Cleveland in 2006 (for Ben Broussard and cash considerations). After seven seasons with the Indians, he was traded again in 2012 to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player deal (that saw Trevor Bauer come to Cleveland and Didi Gregorius land in Arizona). His lone season in Cincinnati brought him to the postseason for the first time, allowing Choo to become the first South Korean player to homer in a playoff game.

Reaching free agency for the first time, Choo agreed to a seven-year, $130 million contract to join the Texas Rangers ahead of the 2014 season. He’d finish his MLB career with the Rangers, going to his lone All-Star Game in 2018.

All told, Choo spent 16 seasons in the big leagues and slashed .275/.377/.447 (122 OPS+) with 339 2B, 218 HR, 782 RBI, and 157 SB (while totaling 34.7 bWAR).

Wanting to finish his career in Korea, Choo signed with the Landers ahead of the 2021 season (and promptly re-signed a series of one-year deals to remain with the club for four seasons). Choo hit .263/.388/.424 in 439 games with SSG, retiring following the 2024 season.

Ah-seop Son slashed .288/.352/.371 in 416 PA with two teams (NC Dinos and Hanwha Eagles) in 2025, but clubs were still hesitant to commit a roster spot to the KBO’s all-time hits leader this past offseason. Son was the last free agent to agree to a new deal for the 2026 season, according to the Yonhap News Agency’s Jee-ho Yoo, finally returning to the Eagles in February on a one-year, 100 million won ($67,500 USD) contract.

Despite the addition, Son wasn’t in the Eagles’ plans this season. He received just one at-bat off the bench through the first 13 games of the season. Last Tuesday, per Yoo, the Eagles announced that they had traded Son to the Doosan Bears for left-hander Kyo-hoon Lee and 150 million won ($101,000+ USD).

Son debuted in 2007 with the Lotte Giants, with whom he spent the first 15 seasons of his career before signing with the Dinos in 2022. The 38-year-old corner outfielder is a career .321/.393/.455 hitter over his 20-year career with 2,618 hits. He led the league in hits four separate times (2012, 2013, 2017, 2023).

Yoo also points out that Son has a pair of players actively chasing his record:

Kim, notably, interrupted his KBO career with two seasons in MLB with the Orioles and Phillies. He appeared in 191 games, collecting 141 hits while slashing .273/.351/.368 (94 OPS+).

Lee, who’ll turn 26 in May, posted a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 IP for the Bears last season and has a 2.70 ERA in seven minor league games this season, but his career numbers are otherwise less encouraging: a 7.28 ERA in 55.2 IP.

Plenty of attention has been paid to the imbalance in MLB payrolls from the top teams to the bottom. Some of those concerns have only intensified in recent years with the Dodgers' heavy spending in free agency. Among their many additions, Los Angeles has added the highest-priced reliever available on the market in each of the last two offseasons.

Both additions have proven to be costly for L.A.

A year ago, left-hander Tanner Scott received a four-year, $72 million contract (with a vesting option for a fifth season). Scott’s first season with the Dodgers was among the worst of his career — a 4.74 ERA (86 ERA+) in 57.0 IP with 60 SO, 18 BB, and 23 saves — before he missed the entire postseason due to injury (a lower-body abscess).

This offseason, right-hander Edwin Díaz received a three-year, $69 million contract (with a conditional team option for a fourth season). Díaz has shown a noticeable drop in velocity so far this season (his fastball has averaged 92.8 mph, where a year ago it ranged between 97.2 and 98.1 mph). Following Sunday’s loss to the Rockies, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts “didn’t like what he saw” from Díaz and, despite the reliever not reporting any discomfort, the team ordered an MRI. The exam revealed several “loose bodies” in Díaz’s right elbow. He’s scheduled to undergo surgery on Wednesday and will likely miss the next two to three months.

Losing Díaz is a significant blow to L.A., though not one the club can’t overcome. Scott has pitched well early (a 0.93 ERA in 11 games) and should see his share of the save opportunities in the coming months alongside Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen. Lefty Jake Eder was called up from the minors to take Díaz’s place on the active roster.

Initially acquired as part of a three-team, five-player trade in December 2018, Yandy Díaz has somewhat quietly been one of the club’s most consistent offensive forces. Díaz is in his eighth season with the club and will be a free agent at season’s end. The 34-year-old just surpassed B.J. Upton for fourth on the franchise’s all-time hits leaderboard. If he isn’t traded this summer, he could conceivably climb to third before the season ends.

Jonathan Matos Morales, an 18-year-old catcher in the Braves’ system, is in police custody in Florida following a deadly car accident on Monday. According to details reported by the New York Post’s Richard Pollina, Morales was “driving his 2022 Ford Mustang down I-75 in Manatee County Monday morning when he collided with a Chevy Trailblazer traveling in the center lane”. The crash pushed the Trailblazer into the right lane, where it was hit by a semi-truck, which then flipped over and “slid to a stop on its side”. The driver of the semi-truck was killed in the crash. Morales reportedly fled the scene, and when team officials spotted his car at the club’s spring training facility, they promptly notified the Florida Highway Patrol. Atlanta had signed Morales as an international amateur free agent last July, but he never appeared in a game for the organization. The Braves quietly released him on Tuesday.